What are some things the entire Midwest has in common?

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

War of 1812 was a big deal. Strong memory in the Great Lakes region. And the Gold Rush, though that's not midwest related really.

A major reason we went to war was the rid the West of British Forts (eg Detriot). Although some of the public discourse was about Salior impressment the areas of the country most effected by that were anti-war (New England) and the West and South pushed hard for war.

[LINative]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Okay but nobody really separates the Colonial cities despite the fact VA is 125 years older than GA.

Basically nothing major happened to America between 1800-1861 (that wasn’t directly related to sweat ward expansion) it was the same era of American history. The journey to the West coast from the Proclaimation line of 1763 happened in 1 lifetime.

I see what your saying, after American Independence, settlement of the Midwest and the rest of the country went pretty fast. Literally in one life time from the official breaking of the proclamation line in 1783 to California joining the Union in 1850 is only about 67 years, within a single lifetime.

That is one way to look at it. But what I am trying to say it is more complicated then that.
Great Lake States

For one, many of the first settlers into the rural areas Great Lakes, were Americans not immigrants. In fact, many of them, especially in the case of Ohio had been born as British colonists in the 13 colonies. Ohio joined the Union when Thomas Jefferson was President for example.

When these settlers began moving into the Great Lakes states they encounted large areas of forests and waterways and an agricultural environment similar to what they had back in the East. Even the Indian tribes were similar, the Indians around the Great Lakes are considered Northeast Indians culturally.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indige...tern_Woodlands ). In fact, in the case of the Shawnee and Delaware, they were the SAME Indians. The Delaware had been fighting the Dutch around New York City in the early 1600s, now almost 200 years later they were fighting Virginians and Pennsylvanians around the Ohio Valley!

The Plains States

Now contrast the Great Lake states, which seemed similar to the East in many ways, to the Great Plains. The Plains used to be called a desert, especially the High Plains, because it was so alien to the Eastern settlers. And much of it was still occupied and patrolled by Indians tribes until after the Civil War.

These Indians were not the familiar woodland type of Indians found in the East but horse warriors brought up on horseback who could fight tooth and nail with the US Calvary. To the Eastern settlers, the Plains must have looked like the American version of the Russian steppes.

In order to get people to move out to these remote plains, the United States Federal government began to pass Homestead Acts which encouraged settlement by offering land for free. Also the railroads, which has also been granted land by the government, also began to give away land to encourage development along their lines. Many of these first settlers to the plains were actually immigrants from Europe.